‘Breaking the Shell’ by Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille and Kit Downes
‘Breaking the Shell’ by Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille and Kit Downes
Bill Frisell played guitar on many releases by ECM, a label promoting a hygienic, chamber jazz that lapped at the shore of academic seriousness. Drummer Andrew Cyrille wielded his sticks in free jazz settings, backing pianist Cecil Taylor. Their young associate, Kit Downes, is a boundary-straddling British organist who also recorded for ECM.
The threesome are a trio with an organist, but don’t describe them as an “organ trio.” The term implies soul jazz and Frisell-Cyrille-Downes are tuned to a different vibe on Breaking the Shell. For one thing, Downes is playing pipe organ, not Hammond B3, and coaxes some unusual sounds from his instrument. On their arrangement of a Hungarian folk tune, his organ suggests the piping of indigenous woodwinds. On a traditional Norwegian melody, Downes and Frisell play in eastern modes, resulting in something that could be at home on an adventurous psychedelic recording.
The remaining nine tracks are original. Frisell’s delicately filigreed playing on Downes’ “El” comes closest to his familiar work from decades past. The group composition “Southern Body” is more somber with Downes’ organ sounding like a lonesome, distant whistler. Frisell-Downes’ “Cypher” project’s the album’s dominant mood of being pleasantly adrift, floating like a paper boat on a gently moving stream.
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